This is how we earned the honour: From June to August 2011, the Media Institute of Southern Africa sent numerous requests for information to various government ministries. However, none of them succeeded because our government decided to clam up even on straightforward issues that have nothing to do with national security.An example from our experience is of a director who - in a country famed for its wildlife - finds himself/herself encumbered by considerations of national security when asked to give an estimation of the population of wildebeest in Botswana. An absolute veto is certain to meet the enquirer who may ask about the amount of money to be spent on building new houses for the police because that is a matter of national security.
Unbelievably, the culture of unaccountability is on the march across the Government enclave. In fact, with the storm troopers against enlightenment so determined that they appear to have the Sun as their ultimate aim, Africa's oldest democracy could some day attain Arthur Koestler's Darkness At Noon! What will happen between now and then - from the Golden Padlock to life without light - can only be chaos beyond dimension. The unseen course will be littered with people who cannot make intelligent decisions simply because the necessary information is not there. Or if it is, there is an impenetrable wall of opacity made up of government functionaries on one side and the public on the other.
